Since daring to criticise the Giants' recruitment of the sacked Canberra Raiders half back, I've taken a real pasting from the thousands who throng the Galpharm Stadium every week. Emails, letters, late night phone calls, the works.

I've been accused - among other things - of: having a personal vendetta against Huddersfield, of holding back the progress of rugby league in this country and of being part of a bi-partisan conspiracy with Halifax RLFC aimed at sullying the good name of Fartown.

Someone even called me ugly. Now that's what I call informed debate.

As backlashes go, this one has verged on paranoia.

And all because I suggested that signing a chap who has been dismissed by his club after a string of booze-related incidents and banned from going to any other team in Australia for 2009 perhaps wasn't the best idea, either for Huddersfield or for English rugby league.

I have also been castigated for not taking my virtual cat o' nine tails to Fax over the court appearances of Danny Heaton and, in the last day or so, of coach Matt Calland.

Hang 'em high, cry my Giants correspondents, they've both got previous.

Young Todd, on the other hand, is merely a feckless, unfortunate youth currently burnishing his tarnished halo by working on a charity project in Rwanda.

I'm not here to stand up for either Calland or Heaton; they've been punished in a court of law and, in Calland's case, may yet pay a higher price still.

Nor am I going to make it my business to comment on the other rugby league players - Leon Pryce, Gareth Raynor, Stuart Reardon, Ben Kavanagh to name but a few - who have landed themselves in hot water with the law.

Life isn't black and white and people make mistakes. Heck, I've even made a few myself.

Which means the game in this country has no choice but to deal with its own miscreants in whatever imperfect way it sees fit at the time.

There are clear distinctions between that rogues' gallery and Carney though, not least because the aforementioned roll call suggests we have enough problems on our own doorstep without flying more potential grief halfway round the world.

Also, none of the above have been declared persona non grata by the RFL.

And none of their troubles have had such a clear and consistent link with alcohol over a sustained period of time.

By Carney's own admission, he has a "problem" with the drink, but denies he is an alcoholic, preferring to label himself an "idiot".

Look at it this way. The NRL haven't barred Carney from their game out of spite or vindictiveness.

They've done it because they think he needs help, with big boss David Gallop saying the wayward star needed to make "inroads into his problems".